Arash Rahbar was noticeably absent from the Olympia 2020 Classic Physique. He now opens up on the reason why.
Arash Rahbar has been a threatening competitor in the sport of bodybuilding for many years now. First in Men’s Physique where he constantly battled for the top spots. He then later transitioned to Classic Physique in the hopes of claiming champion status in the new division.
While he has not yet earned himself an Olympia title – he has the potential to be an unstoppable force in the division. So why didn’t we see him at the Olympia 2020? In our latest GI Exclusive interview, Arash Rahbar details exactly why he stepped out of the Olympia 2020.
2020 was certainly a strange year for just about everyone (and 2021 seems to so far be continuing that trend). So you might not have been surprised by certain athletes not competing at the biggest shows in 2020.
Arash Rahbar was one such athlete who did not end up competing at the Olympia 2020. Though the reason has less to do with the pandemic and more to do with complications behind the scenes.
During the first major COVID-19 lockdown, Arash Rahbar started feeling a sharp pain in his left hip. He had it checked out by a doctor only to find out that he had torn a muscle. While the tear wasn’t full ripping the muscle off the tendon, it was still bad enough to affect his training. The pain got worse before it got better – and it prevented Arash from being able to train at 100%.
Add on top of this that Arash Rahbar believes that the body part he needs to improve the most are his legs. This made it even harder for him to prepare as a torn muscle in his glute and hip area made it hardest to train his legs.
Even at this point, though, he assumed he would be competing at the Mr. Olympia 2020. It wasn’t until seven weeks out that he realized he wasn’t prepared enough. He had to make a call. So he decided to step down for the year.
Arash Rahbar admits that he still feels weird about the decision. Ever since he started pro bodybuilding, he never expected to take a break at the start of each new year. This was the first time that he was on the fence to begin with. Bodybuilding is Arash’s passion – so to have to choose to step down, even for a year, was not an easy decision to make.
But the year 2020 is over and Arash Rahbar is looking forward to a new year and new opportunities. While the world is far from normal, Arash started 2021 like he starts every year – with the assumption that he will focus on bodybuilding and competing. Hopefully the torn muscles won’t put him at a disadvantage as he prepares for the stage this year.
You can watch Arash Rahbar’s full comments in our latest GI Exclusive interview segment above!
